when you find them, you try to design a layout that can use the same "setup" for all the scenes

In other words, one master Background that all the action can take place in

That means you have to plan how much space you need around the characters in order to be able to draw all the most extreme poses

Like all these images can use 1 setup:

This is a "long shot" That means the camera is far away enough to show the whole bodies of the characters.

so you have to plan all the drawings to work on the same background, and the sixes of the characters have to make sense from pose to pose

if they are on the bed they are smaller

if they are on the floor in the foreground they are bigger

if there are consecutive poses within a scene, the poses have to "flip" between each other

This lesson is to draw all these poses, so they use the same background, and that the consecutive poses flip.

You also of course have to remember everything from previous lessons - like negative space, style, not toning down the poses etc.

Questions?I went through all the scenes in the last setup and blocked out the spacing for all the poses and the background.I haven't commited to any finished detailed drawings yet, because I wanted to make sure all the actions would fit into the scenes.I had to push and pull shapes around to get the best possible positions.all these poses have to register to the same BG as in the first pose.The next step would be to start tightening up the drawings to make them look good.

17 comments:

Believe this or not i had to learn this on the job (character layout...i won't name the show). That part about planning the extreme poses is absolutely true you could easily waste a days work finding out it's not planned right, needless to say i was too slow so i was let go ,but, while i was doing it, i was in heaven for 6 months i wish i could have been faster. Layout is a nice experience it's like boarding just a little more exact...very exact as a matter of fact. John K you really are a knowledgeable dude, quality knowledge.

dear john k,i am a beginner animator and i am 14. I started animating in September by using flash. I really need some advice. You could see my animations at scottwjsm.newgrounds.com . Also, people say im a fast learner, that's how i am getting better at flash each day.

Are these cartoons going to be made? Or are you just doing layouts now in case they get picked up? I really wish more of your stuff would catch on. I haven't seen any new John K cartoons in a long time.

This was always the part that mystified me the most. I would imagine that being less-than-totally-finicky about negative space would be a requirement for doing this, no? I mean, yes, you can still achieve many different stylish compositions with one well thought out background and characters that move, BUT you will still inevitably be planning FG and BG at different stages, not all at once like in a comic/illustration/painting/etc. So the background is sort of a half-finished composition and the characters make up a different other half every time the pose changes, but the first half doesn't change. And then there are pans....holy cow....So really, how much do you generally let slide? Does every frame have to be perfect, and if not how close must one get to perfection to be "good"?

When you say "the poses have to "flip" between each other" do you mean that the composition would look good if the characters were on the opposite side of the one they're on? But then Slab wouldn't look good behind the ladder - unless you're flipping the bg too.